U.S. employers pulled back on hiring in April after a streak of solid monthly gains, adding 160,000 jobs, the fewest in seven months.
NEWSBALANCE
A Focus On Liberty by Bill B. May, PhD
The goal of the NewsBalance site is to educate readers on politics and economics using the principles of Liberty. If we think that schools fail us in basics like math and English, think about sending our children into the real world with virtually no education in economics. The education in politics is little better because it lacks any substantive discussion of the unintended consequences of well-meaning politicians or the monopoly nature of government. Both of which fail the citizenry compared to free enterprise where mistakes are either soon corrected or the business fails so that another one with better ideas can take its place.
Liberty is a fundamental yearning of humans, right behind satisfying hunger and comfort. People as young as two yearn want to do things their way. If we must be governed to keep an orderly society, that government should focus on protecting people’s liberty and we should not allow government to violate our liberty itself. That is the focus.
Jack Salmon writes: Puerto Rico is in crisis and drowning in debt. Now it looks like the island’s Development Bank, set up to raise living standards in the territory, will collapse. Congress is rushing to provide some help, but it also needs to consider the effects of federal regulations on the island. Foremost among these is the federal minimum wage.
U.S. employers notched another solid month of hiring in March, adding 215,000 jobs. The improvement was driven by large gains in the construction, retail and health care industries.
U.S. employers added 151,000 jobs in January, a sharp deceleration from recent months as companies shed education, transportation and temporary workers.
Frank Shostak says: According to the Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT) the artificial lowering of interest rates by the central bank leads to a misallocation of resources because businesses undertake various capital projects that — prior to the lowering of interest rates —weren’t considered as viable. This misallocation of resources is commonly described as an economic boom.
by Bill B. May I only caught snippets of the Democratic debate last evening. When it comes to progressives, there isn’t much new under the sun, so I didn’t waste a couple hours. I did listen to the opening statements and a bit more. What was clear, especially from Hillary, was that they would fix the economy; they would lead the economy out of the…
by Bill B. May Here we go again. And with a supposedly conservative leader in the House. On the surface, there are few cuts in government expenses in the bill but there are a number of tax cuts. That should warm the hearts of conservatives who believe that taxes (and government) are weighing down the economy. But it won’t. These tax “cuts” are special interest reductions…
Carson Bruno writes: On the macro level, California is finally coming out of the Great Recession, but on a micro level, this recovery is precariously balanced on the shoulders of one region. If something were to happen to the Silicon Valley-Bay Area region, the Golden State currently has no Plan B. This isn’t meant as a critique of the other regions of California, but rather…
Democrats, Republican defense hawks and businesses seeking permanent tax breaks are the big winners as lawmakers finalize the sprawling, last-train-leaving-Congress spending and tax deal.
Wall Street seized on another strong U.S. jobs report and appeared to shrug off mounting expectations of an imminent interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, with the Dow Jones index rising 396.96 point, or 2.12 percent, to 17,847.63, for one of its best trading days in three months.